Arcade’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Arcade Free Library serves Arcade’s 4,187 residents. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What Arcade’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
57% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 40%. What your card is worth ↓
Top 10% in New York for kids’ borrowing
Arcade ranks #10 of 241 New York towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Arcade is a town of borrowers
Arcade Free Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
76% of the 213 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.7 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 46% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Arcade last year. Kids & programs ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Arcade’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Arcade is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #609 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Arcade’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$78K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Arcade
2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.9%
4.9% of Arcade’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Arcade’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 27K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
7,166 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Arcade Free Library serves 4,187 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Arcade last year.
Find it
Arcade Free Library, 365 West Main Street, Arcade.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Arcade? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Arcade cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $222K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $785K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $222K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 2,602 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Arcade Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Arcade
Does Arcade have a public library?
Yes. Arcade Free Library, 365 West Main Street, serves Arcade’s 4,187 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Arcade Free Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Arcade’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 12.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Arcade’s civic life grade?
C− Arcade is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #609 of 751 in New York. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Arcade.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.